Day 1
It didn't take long before the first dive trip of the year with a few of us setting off on the 3rd for a trip to Thailand. Early start with a 5am wake up to head to the Airport, I met my fellow travellers at the bag drop. The gates opened about 5min after I arrived and there was about 20 people already in line in front. At least 15 of which hadn't used the self check in to print tags and were turned back. Which jumped us to pretty much next in line. Security and customs also was very smooth, so were the few Scotch tasters I had in Duty free....
Plane boarded on time, Singapore Airlines are really comfortable to fly with. Hot towel after take off, good entertainment system, and surprisingly good food. They fed us twice on the 8 hour flight. After arriving we had a semi-short 1hr stop-over. Nice train to take us between the terminals. Second plane was delayed almost 40min... We overheard it wasn't the original intended plane, it was bigger. So it was only 2/3rds full.
Plenty of spare seats to have space between us. Not bad though a pity it was on the 2hr flight not the 8hr one! After landing we realised there was a bit of a kerfuffle with our itinerary. There is a Phuket Airport Hotel and a Phuket Airport Overnight hotel. Our information had numbers for both... and both didn't know we existed...
They didn't have free rooms either... After extinguishing our names Tracey had the smart idea to give the name of our agent. Turns out a Ms Claire did in fact have 3 rooms booked for herself... With that sorted out they were able to send a pickup van. They're less than 1km away so it arrived fairly quick and we were at out accom, the Phuket Airport Hotel, fairly quickly. Nice spot and good rooms. A beer to wind down before getting to bed for a good rest.
Day 2
We had left a message for Claire (before we sorted the mix up) and in the morning she had replied with apologies and also noted that our intended 830am pickup had been moved to 730am... Lucky we're all early risers.
One other couple already on the van but we were the only other group so we were able to set off for Elephant Hills. Just under 2.5 hours on relatively good roads with minimal traffic. Short pit stop for facilities and (according to reports) 'not great' coffee.
Arriving at Elephant Hills for a brief. Most people have a late checkout it seems so no rooms ready but a great general area used for info/mess hall. We setup at a table and played a few rounds of cards. It didn't feel long before lunch. An amazing spread with Massaman Curry as a centre piece for me.
1 room was ready so we went to have a sticky beak and swap some stuff in our bags before the afternoon tours. First up was a smooth kayak down the Sok river. Monkeys, 2 different snakes and a cool brown tree frog for fauna. I spent at least half the time just looking up at the impressive landscape. Fantastic mountains and cliff faces.
It was also a nice reprieve from the heat along the water mostly shaded, with a few sunny stretches, but a cool breeze. After that it was interesting watching them load a 2WD hilux with all the kayaks... no TMR inspection stations here I guess...
From there it was a short trip to the Elephants. We were introduced to 3 for pats and photos while waiting for another group to finish up. Soon we headed up to the main area to catch some heading in for a bit of a swim and water play.
Then we were shown how to prepare their food, including special instructions for the 85+ one without any teeth left. Most elephants here are ex-working animals relinquished from logging companies (after logging was banned 1989) but 1 was also an ex-zoo animal, that despite being out for 20 years still remembered a lot of zoo show actions like waving bye-bye with its trunk. Estimations have put the population of domestic Asian elephants in Thailand to be about equal with the remaining wild population.
Then it was time to head back to our accom. Decent glamping setup with a large canvas tent attached to a walled bathroom area. A secondary shelter above it all to keep the rain off. I was a triple share with Nelly and Tracy. Bit tight with the beds... All pushed together when we arrived we had enough floor space to separate them by 200mm each...
Dinner was fantastic again and we had a few more beers to round out the night. Resort prices for beers puts them still a bit cheaper than bar prices in Brisbane. Back to the room for a good shower and bed time. Touch warm still but a big pedestal fan kept it reasonable.
Day 3
Through the night it cooled down enough for me to grab a sheet and drift back off to sleep. Heard the breakfast gong sound at 730 while still in bed. I had most stuff prepared last night so I headed up with Nelly to find only 2 other guests there. Lots of great choice for breakfast with omelette cooking station, pancakes, French toast, cereal, juices, fruit etc etc. As other people streamed in over the duration of breakfast.
9am we were back on the truck for a 1hr drive up to panoramic views over a lake. Small Buddha Statue, a statue of the Thai Princess and views over the lake. A few local tourists were excited by our fair skin and got pictures with a few from our group, confusing a younger UK tourist here with her parents. After the excitement of celebrity life we headed down to the docks and hoped on a long boat for a lake tour. I didn't think I really realised it myself until SNR pointed it out, but we spend a lot of time on boats travelling and the excitement has abated a bit. On the hour boat ride I got bored enough to bring out my phone to update this post...
Looking up occasionally, which I'm glad I did, to take in the very impressive landscape. Rigid sheer cliff faces jutting out of the water and beautiful colours in the rocks. A bit hazy today but the views were still majestic. I was quite warm when we arrived so I jumped in for a swim with Marg. Mandatory life jackets (that were extremely ill fitted) made it cumbersome. We also fed the carp some corn, making them dart around us for a feed. Another good lunch before heading off on a kayak.
4 of us set out 'up the gorge' so I was expecting steep cliffs with narrow gorge. However we just found standard dam tributaries. At one point I was a little close to shore and something (remaining unidentified) made a huge rustle in the vegetation as it rushed away from the shore line.
In for another swim to cool down after the work on a kayak, this time using the life jacket as a seat, rather than a vest, making it far more relaxing. Before long it was time to head back to shore, though some guests stayed here at the 'Lake camp' water bungalows. Truck ride back was a touch bumpy but it wasn't long before we were back and there was another dance show from a local school, dinner and heading down to bed.
Day 4
After breakfast this morning we headed out on a short jungle trek. We grabbed our bamboo trekking poles and crossed the 20m wide river near our huts before setting off. Tam, our guide, was constantly on the lookout for animals and plants. Taking time to warn us of the Thai stinging tree. We all managed to avoid it during the hike, so I'm unable to give a comparison to Gympie Gympie or Stinging Nettle. We weren't far into the hike when she found a cute little tree frog.
Plenty of spiders and beautiful big Strangler type fig trees along the fun little hike. Some decent stem downs over limestone outcrops, pushed up when the Indonesian plate crashed into the Asian plate a millennia ago. At one point a younger Irish lad was in front and Tam suggested he take a
few steps to the side, then look up. He was right under a huge Orb
Weaver spider that took most of his breath away. He was less keen to be
in the lead after that... just over an hour of walking (at a very casual pace) we arrived at a lunch hut.
Marinated BBQ pork cooked over open coals. It was absolutely fantastic. Another great chicken curry with rice to complement along with two traditional Thai dipping sauces for the pork. One spicy and the other not. Both great. The track was a loop so it was just a short 5min to get back to the river crossing and the Elephant Hills resort. Just enough time for a shower before they were ready to collect our bags and transfer us to the next resort.
1.5hrs ish to get to Robinson's at Khao Lak. Except for maybe the 2 nights I had in Dubai this would be the fanciest resort I have ever stayed in. Three beautiful pools, heaps of doting staff, perfectly manicured gardens and heaps of bars. Still hot from the mornings activities everyone was keen to experience the pool. One of the pools had slides for the kids, that looked fun... but we just stuck to the main pool.
After a nice long soak we migrated to the bar for a few beers before eventually moving on to dinner and heading to bed.
Day 5
Woke for a huge buffet breakfast with almost everything you could want. I couldn't find bacon, but the pork sausages were great. SNR appreciated the smoked salmon tray, but despite your preferences there's no chance of needing to go hungry.
After breakfast Nelly and I headed off to Si Rung waterfall, which was only a 10min drive away. 100m from the car park is a nice quiet 20m tall falls with a small 1m ish deep dip pool at the bottom. We had a great 20min with the falls to ourselves before others started to arrive, including one couple setting up tripods for Instagram shots...
Water was cool and refreshing but I opted not to swim as Nelly went in for a quick dip. I enjoyed seeing a really cool little bright green lizard bouncing across the rocks between all us tourists as if it were a daily chore on its commute. The other guests came and went pretty quickly so we had it to ourselves again until we were ready to leave.
On the way out I spied a small weir made from placed rocks and on the other side some steps leading up. We decided to investigate up the steep slope and soon found ourselves above the falls. Another nice spot up here and Nelly even spied a fresh water turtle. Back out we hit up the cafe to order a taxi, 100 Thai Bhat ($5 AUD) cheaper than the trip here from the resort taxi. While waiting I got a mango smoothie and looking at the creek we spied another turtle, that quickly ducked under a rock.
Back to the resort for an afternoon of relaxation in the pool. I'm getting pretty bored after just day 2 but we overheard people saying they were staying here 2 weeks and apparently they haven't done any day tours... Different strokes I guess... After a while we grabbed an early dinner and checked out. A quick dinner before the 40ish min drive to the jetty. Boarded the Marco Polo to meet the crew and our fellow guests. Decent setup mono-hull painted bright canary yellow. Hard to miss.
After a quick boat brief we settled in while being served dinner. They will travel half the night so we can wake up on Similan Islands.
Day 6
Woke up and the boat was rocking, gently but noticeable for me, quickly downed a Kwell (sea sickness tablet) and hopped up. The joys of a mono-hull live aboard. Nothing worse for me than lying in bed on a rocking boat. It was about 530am and the deck crew were already awake making preparations for our first breakfast. I was able to sit on the deck and watch as the sky got colour and eventually the sun rose.
In for our first (check out) dive at a pleasant reef/sand slope. Not a whole lot to see but there was an octopus and cuttle fish to keep things interesting. We had OK vis at 20m and a nice 29°c water temp.
Back up for second breakfast before getting prepared for dive two. At the start this site looked much like the first which again was pleasant, but not exciting. Soon though Nelly spotted a giant Moray and just after that I found a Banded sea crate hiding under some coral. Mid way through the dive the landscape changed dramatically.
Giant granite rock boulders jutted out from the sand. Heaps of balancing rocks with plenty of cracks and crevasses for things to hide in. Just the landscape itself was fantastic and no photo could really do it justice. Massive massive rocks. We found a few Nudibranch this dive too, but not as much as I was expecting.
Lunch as soon as we got back with a 1.5 hour break after that until our next dive brief. Good food to fill the belly, the deck staff have been really good and are really friendly despite them not speaking English and me not able to speak Thai.
Another sandy slope with a few granite boulders outcropping high above the sea floor. We also met the dreaded "Green Monster" a cold nutrient rich current. So drop 5-7° and 1/3 visibility. Right in the mix zone there is a shimmer in the water which made even close critters blurry. Like looking through rain covering a wind screen. Nice structure, but no big standouts.
We moved off after the dive into a sheltered bay for the night and got ready for a night dive. Dropped in on a fairly flat 15m deep bay with lots of coral/rocks/structure to explore. Loads of shrimp and other red eyes glaring back, with a few small but very colourful painted crayfish.
The dive was followed by a nice dinner and it wasn't long before everyone was in bed.
Day 7
I woke up around 5am and felt the rocking of the boat again, so headed up to the deck for a milo and banana for breakfast. Earlier brief today, 630am, so most people were awake to see the sun rise about 640. Lucky its not cold in the mornings here.
We dropped in off the back of the boat and were met with moderate current. It stayed with us on the way down and as we went along the sand but eased off as we made our way onto the reef slope. Then it seemed to have a mind of its own. Reversing, slight, moderate, switching back, stopping all together and then picking up again.
Lots of blue spotted rays, giant green moray, heaps of bait fish and even a pair of dualling coral cod. Only 1 nudi again... not sure if I'm just not spotting them, or they're not here. Our guide is jovial, friendly and helpful on deck, but under water he just seems to float out in front, 2-3m off the bottom... not really searching for the Macro stuff (we told him numerous times) that we're seeking out.
Motored over to a new site during breakfast to find another big boat already there, so we changed plans to dive Xmas Point, just around the corner. Another sandy reef slope that headed into another great boulder field. Massive 2-3 story ones. Lots of crevasses and swim through spots. Fantastic scenery really... but still not a huge variety of life. Nelly did find some pipe fish, and right nearby a peacock mantis shrimp. So it's not totally devoid.
About mid dive I noticed a bit of water creeping into my reg occasionally. Thought I was just being a numpty and not holding the reg, but on closer inspection I saw my mouth piece had a small split. Not disastrous, but enough to cause annoyance. Lucky its one of the spares I bring so I was able to switch it out when back on the boat.
Another nice lunch as we started to motor on from the southern Similan Islands and onto Koh Bon. We played some cards to pass the 2hr surface interval, which was pretty difficult in the breeze on deck, but the breeze was too nice to hide in a cabin. Spied a few dive boats again, same ones must be following the same general itinerary. We have come across divers from other boats a few times, with some parts feeling a little crowded underwater. Luckily they all seem to be in a hurry, so they rush by.
In the water for the third dive of the day and immediately saw loads of fish. A really large school of long-nose emperor, barracuda, heaps of bait fish and lots of other schools. With just the fish it was a good dive and then Ralph (dive guide) found a big octopus. Not long after I found two "Maldives Sponge Snails" (they must be on holidays as the Maldives are ~2,800 km from here...) New species for me which is pretty cool, especially as I spotted them myself. Our guide had pointed them out in a book and said to be on the lookout... I guess he wanted us to find them for him as he was excited to show others when I pointed them out to him...
Headed north to the next island we had about 2.5 hours to laze about. Some snoozed, some read, I half drifted off on a bench on the deck, but didn't get any real sleep. In for our last dive for today on a Pinnacle. More a mound/hill but a decent rise from the 40m floor. Lots of cod, mackerel, GTs, dog fish, etc. Giant moray eels and a buffet of painted cray fish. Quite a bit of the green current swirling around hitting us in various places.
The plan was to tuck behind a smaller island tonight but the wind and swell were hitting all sides so we headed off north another 2 or so hours to a bigger island with more protection. Despite taking sea-sickness tablets (well sea-sickness prevention tablets) at regular intervals I started to feel a bit queasy. There were a few touch and go moments but I was able to hold it together.
The Thai deck crew offered a balm, smelled a bit like imagining a Peppermint Vic's Vapour rub, to put under my nose which certainly wakes you up and is meant to help with motion sickness. I think it did a little, if only the smell to take your mind off it and the sensation like deep heat on the upper lip. Eventually I felt well enough to eat the plate of food set aside for me and by the time I went to bed I was 100% again.
Day 8
Just before 5am the boats engines whirled up and we got moving. Not wanting a repeat of the night before I downed a tablet and got myself up. We were the first boat to arrive at a Pinnacle dive, but we were soon joined by others. By the time we briefed and got into the water a few of them were ready too.
The site was like Yongala life wise. An oasis in a void of sand. As a result it was teaming with fish life. So many big schools of Trevally and a lot of GTs. A new Nudibranch for me too; A 'common' spotted one, but a different colouration... Pink dots. Blue Dragon Nudis I've seen a few before and a stripped flat worm I think was new to me too.
A few more boats must have arrived after we went down, as 2/3rds through our dive it got very, very crowded. There's a lot of dive sites named 'Fish Soup' on account of the masses of fish... this could be called 'Diver Soup' the other groups still seem in a hurry though, like they're trying to cover the entire site in 30min... so if you stop, they move past quick.
Back on the boat for breakfast and there were 7 other live aboard and 1 day boat... quite a few divers... we were sort of lucky for dive 2 as we were hopping in as many divers were getting out. Not all of them though... at one point, as we were meandering along, another group cut through our group. Those at the back just stopped and waited for the traffic to speed by before moving on. A few cool Banded Moray Eels this dive to keep us entertaining.
We hung around for a third dive, luckily before we were ready other boats had finished their time here and moved on. Off the back of the boat we drifted over to the site. Still loads upon loads of fish getting about as we cruised around. Same Nudi's again and a few more Banded Eels.
Highlight was a few Cuttle Fish making babies, which of course I didn't get any good shots of... There was also a second male following behind, hoping for his shot at the action. Every now and then the larger male would turn around, flare up and put on its war paint, and the other would back off 1m... before continuing to follow anyway.
As soon as we got back it was time to move off. Great peanut satay chicken for lunch. Just over 2 hour drive to the next site. A few laid back on the sun deck, others went to their cabins to read/snooze and I spent the time updating this post!
Dive brief for the 4th sunset dive was basically "same as yesterday." Same time and same site... so the brief was quick. Very similar for us as well except we didn't see many Crays. We did see a huge Red Bass though, a Flabellina Nudi and two sea snakes. When the dive was over we ascended for the safety stop to a wall of these small jelly fish. Copped a few mild stings on the lips and one on the ear. Not a bad pain, but noticeable. We also picked up a pair of rangers from the near by island who had apparently finished their shift. Tracey also found a nice porcelain crab under an anemone.
Later dinner tonight, because of a late lunch, which was fantastic again. We also had chocolate cake as it was one of the other guests birthday. Yum!
Day 9
Boat rocked through the night leading to not the best sleep. Still up at 6am for a 630 dive brief. A nice wall dive to begin with. A few Flat worms, another fancy snail and a feeding frenzy for long nosed emperor. We poked our noses around a point and were met with a strong current so we turned tail and went back along the wall.
At points along the wall there were gaps in the wall above water. Waves would crash into them and flow out. It's a pretty impressive display under water as a huge gush of white water spills back into the ocean. Looking like an underwater waterfall. We popped up a good distance away from the boat so the tender came to pick us up and tow us on a line back to the main boat.
Back to Koh Bon north reef for the second dive. As we were getting ready the deck hand unclipped my tank when I was grabbing my mask, guess he thought I was ready for the tank. Unfortunately I turned to rinse the mask and he must have been distracted helping someone else so my tank toppled over.... As a result my 2nd stage was free flowing slightly and when I went to stop it, it started flowing very strongly instead.
Turned off the tank and tried again for the same result... bugger! Swapped out the second stage + hose with one of the boats and same problem... likely faulty 1st stage. We threw on a set of boat regs so we could get going. Different mouth piece felt odd and a different hose/SPG configuration is always a bit to get use too but they worked fine.
Another "same-same" dive on a site we did previously on the way up. Still big schools of long nose emperor fish, as well as a pretty big banded sea snake. It swam straight for Marg at one point, where she puffed up and held her ground. It was very curious but after taking a gander it swam up to the surface for a breath. We also caught glimpse of a huge school of Barracuda swim over us. On the safety stop we were amongst a school of smaller fish and they must have heard something because all of a sudden they raced off away from us, leaving us to see nothing but blue water.
Back on board I changed my hose port (closed off the one that was free flowing) but unfortunately no luck as the second stage started to exhibit the same free flow. I can use the boat set for our last dive of the trip after lunch and I have a spare at home. Not ideal, but at least I'm not too put out. The first stage might still be serviceable anyway.
Last dive was much closer to the mainland on an old ship wreck. The Boon Sung wreck was 'mysteriously' sunk in the 80's after Tin trawling was banned off the coast. It also got hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami so it's a a few really large chunks of twisted metal. Site reminded me of Curtin Artificial Reef on a bad day, at low tide. However there were loads of bait fish, quite a few Honeycomb Moray Eels and a Nudi, not yet seen this trip. It was also pretty funny to see a remora stuck on a puffer fish!
Back on the boat it was a dash to rinse gear and claim a sunny spot for the 1hr trip back to shore. Every second counts (although we have tomorrow to try dry gear) when it's dripping with water. We also sorted out the bar tab and packed our rooms to be ready.
Just before we docked we crammed still wet gear into our dive bags, with hopes of clear dry skies tomorrow. Off the boat for an hour ish drive to the Airport hotel. Checked in for an amazing shower and splayed out dive gear so it didn't developed too much of a musk in the bag.
Day 10
Bit of a sleep in this morning, not stirring until 8am! Breakfast at the hotel and a bit of lazing about before a few of us walked 800 ish meters down the road to a national park and beach. 200 baht entry (~$10) each but we had time to kill so might as well. Didn't walk much in the park but the beach was nice.
We also noticed that this was one of the beaches that tourists get shots of landing planes sailing just above the beach. We took off to have a gander because us tourists do touristy things I guess. The thrust generated from the larger planes taking off was enough to send hats and beach towels flying. We didn't stay long, just enough time for one flight to land overhead before making our way back.
I had to check out by 12 so I quickly had a shower (hot work walking along the beach...) and ditched my bags in Tracey's room. Nelly said her goodbyes quickly in the group chat as her ride showed a little early (she has a few more days to relax at a beach resort, I'm not jealous at all!)
With a whole afternoon to waste I also copied Marg and Tracey's idea and went for a massage. I guess Thailand is as good a place as any for a Thai massage... it was nice and firm and I felt relaxed after. Then onto lunch where I had a great Penang Curry. Back at the hotel to charge the phone and waste a little more time before the 5pm transfer to the Airport.
Airport check-in was fairly painless. We were about 20min early before check in opened but when it did it flowed smoothly, as did customs and security. Enough time to sit near the gate and enjoy a relaxing beer. Phuket Airport is loud though. Bad acoustics, or too many people, or lots of flight announcements it seemed to be constantly busy.
It probably didn't help that a person sat behind me at the gate area and decided that now was the best time to listen and respond to voicemail at full volume with no headphones/earplugs. Me turning off my Bluetooth and blasting SOAD at full volume didn't seem to deter him either.. so I gave up after 1/2 a song as to not add even more to the general noise myself...
First flight was a Scoot code share flight, not quite the 1/2 empty Singapore flight comfort we had for this leg on the way over... Very laggy in flight entertainment that dropped out frequently, a big guy rather than a vacant seat, no where near as good food service (I barely was able to swallow 3 bites) and no charging port for the phone. Also the first flight I have ever been asked to take out my earphones for take-off and landing...
Day 11
Landed at Singapore and had a very short transfer walk to the next gate. Through internal security and back to waiting. Flight boarded and departed on time. First meal came through, pizza's which smelled really nice, but I passed on it as I was trying to sleep (departure time being 1am...) took me a while but I eventually drifted off.
Woke for the breakfast meal service. Omelette and chicken nuggets, with roast potato. An unexpected combination but it tasted Ok, definitely not as good as the food on the way over. After landing one of our travel buddies turned off flight mode and got the unfortunate news that their bags were still in Singapore... At least it's confirmed I guess, rather than waiting at the baggage carousel for 30min in frustration. Customs and Immigration moved pretty quickly, smoothest I've had it I think, so I was soon through and on my way home. (The bag was delivered home the next day)
Another trip made great by the people I shared it with.
For a summary of my Similan Islands Diving experience I would say it was perfectly...pleasant. There was interesting structure on some dives and definitely loads of fish life. The reef seemed healthy despite the notable lack of any sharks. Water was warm enough and while some points had strong current we mostly went with it, or avoided it where possible.
With that said... I'm not in a rush to head back. Lack of Macro life really stood out to us (though a different guide might change that) and while the big schools of fish were cool, you can see them a lot of other places. If someone was fresh into their diving journey I think the Similan Islands would make a memorable trip, but if you're past the point of swimming fast and playing with the fishes, you might want to pick a different destination.
